Electric appliance



Dec. 25, 1928. 1,696,495

' M. J. MALLING ELECTRIC APPLIANCE Filed July 11, 1927 W/ 74 515565 r A Y ,Z/ -[NVENTOR M; r: .Mau/va. fi. i w'w u B Y K 5 M f JMW J. ATTOR Y Patented Dec. 25, 11928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MALTE J. MALLING, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

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Application filed July 11, 1927. Serial No. 204,818.

This invention relates to an electrical appliance particularly designed as a combined plug and spool which may be used to make electrical connection with a wall or floor socket, and on which the cord which carries circuit wires leading to a lamp or other electrical device may be wound to a .desired or necessary extent, whereby the cord between the'plug and said appliance is held straight and is neat and orderly in appearance where otherwise it would be tangled and disorderly, the length of the'cord many times being considerably greater than the distance between the plug and the electric device to which the cord leads. The construction which I have devised for this purpose is relatively simple, may be easily manufactured and the cord containing the circuit Wires may be easily attached thereto. And such combined plug and spool may be equipped for either direct connection to a vwall socket or 'for connection to an intermediate plug whichitself is directly connected with the wall or floor socket.

My invention consists in novel constructions and combinations and arrangements of parts for 'efl'ectively attaining the ends stated, as will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which,

Fig. 1 is an elevation ofthe outer end of the electrical appliance of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the inner end of such appliance.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation taken at right angles to the side shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a central section through the appliance substantially on the plane of line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a central section through the in.

ner member of the appliance modified for attachment to an auxiliary plug, and Fig. 7 is an end elevatlon thereof.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures ofthe drawing- In the construction, an inner member 1 of the spool and plug is made of suitable insulating material and preferably with an outwardly extending beaded rim ,2. Said member has a central 0 ening 3 therethrough and at its inner si e is formed with an integral annular ring 4, best shown in Fig. 5. The contact clips 5 which are designed for connection with the wall or floor s ket ar q pp d hscrews 6 a d h ve has an openingll centrally through it considerably larger in diameter than the ope ning 3 in the first member. outer member 9 is radially slotted, as indicated at 12, from said central opening through the rim 10, and where the slot 12 joins with theopeningill at the inner end of the member 9, said slot is somewhat widened and made into a groove 13' which joins with the groove 8 when the two members 1 and 9' are placed-against each other for securing together. At the opposite side of the member 9 the run 10 is slotted inwardly, as indicated at-14., and the slot terminates in an enlarge ment 15 of substantially circular form located in the body of the member 9 between theouter edge of the rim 10 and the inner opening 11 (see Fig. 1).

The combined spool and plug is completed by securing the two parts 1 and 9 thereof together using connecting screws 16 for such purpose. The screws 16 pass through suit able openings in the outer member 9 thence through openings in the inner member 1 and thread at their ends through the clips 5 securely joining the two parts together. It it is of course evident that the combined spool and plug might be molded as a sin 1e piece but for facility of production it is getter to make the two parts and secure theni together so that when assembled they are in effect integral. a

The cord 17 which contains the two wires of the circuit is passed through the open- 1 ings 11 and 3 and the ends of the wire at-- tached to the clips 5 in the usual manner by securing the saine underneath the heads of until the substantially circular opening made bythe two grooves 8 and 13 receive the cord. The. cord may then be wound around the spool into a coil 18, shown in Fig. 5, thee'nd .105 the screws 6. The cord 17 may be then bent to one side and passed through the slot 12 e at the cord 19 passing'upwardly th h mg v 70 At one side the The construction described is very practical and with it any slack or excess in the length of a cord may be wound around the combined spool and plug with only so much ofthe cord extending between the device when it is attached with a socket as is. needed for the particular electrical appliance with which it is used. This eliminates disorderly and tangled cords.

Instead of providing the inner part or half of the device with the contact clips, such part 1 may be modified so as to make a socket at its inner end frictionally engageable with the usual contact plug used many times with wall sockets. In Fig. 6 the part 1 of the spool is equipped with the usual beaded rim 2 and with the central opening 3 therethrough, and the annular ring 4: is enlarged in diameter and extends farther from. the rim 2 than does the ring 4 from the rim 2 in the first described construction. Within the ring 4 a metal cup 20 is located secured in place by the connecting screws 16 which are used to fasten the two parts of the combined spool and plug to gether. The sides of the cup 20 are slit at spaced apart points providing a plurality of spring fingers 21 which will act to grip against a plug 22 which may be inserted into the cup. The plug 22 has the usual terminal prongs 7 a similar to the prongs 7 which insert into the openings of a floor or wall socket. This modification described is fully capable of taking care of all of the slack or excess length in an electric cord as the excess may be wound around the spool with this form of appliance in the same manne as in that first described.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be considered comprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

I claim:

1. A device of the class described com-. prising, a body of suitable non-conducting material of substantiallypulley-like shape,

.said body having "a central longitudinal opening therethrough, a second opening extending from the outer side of the body substantially midway between its ends to connect with said central opening and a slot in one side and in the outer end portion of the body joining with said openings, a metallic contact member secured at the innerend of the plug with which an electric cord may have connection passing therefrom, through the central opening of said body, thence laterally through the second opening and thence wound around the body, its opposite end extending away from said body.

2. A construction containing the elements in combination defined in claim 1, said outer end portion of the body at a point a distance from said slot therein being slotted inwardly for a short distance and provided with an enlarged opening at the inner endof the second slot through which the cord may pass away from said body.

3. A device of the class described comprising, a body of substantially pulley-like form having an inner and an outer part of insulating material means joining said parts together to form a body having a deep annular groove therearound, said body having a central longitudinal opening therethrough, metallic contact clips attached to the inner end of said body, and a cord connected to said clips and extending therefrom through the central opening in the body and thence laterally to the annular groove thereof, the cord being adapted to be wound into a coil located in said groove, the outer end portion of the body being formed with a slotted passage through which the cord may pass from the central opening of the body to said groove. Y

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

MALTE J. MALLING. 

